Greencore ruling - Report too late for staff

HUNDREDS of ex-workers from Greencore’s sugar plant in Mallow can be forgiven for feeling aggrieved by the European Court of Auditors finding that closing the factory in 2006 may not have been necessary.

By any yardstick, the report on the closure could not be more scathing of the European Commission. Not mincing words, the court accuses the commission of using out of date information in re-structuring the EU sugar sector. If anything, it claims that overall sugar production has become less competitive as a result of EU reforms. And furthermore, the cut in sugar prices was not passed on to consumers.

For the 240 workers made redundant at Mallow this report has come too late. The suggestion by Eoin O’Shea, Ireland’s member of the European Court of Auditors, that the plant could possibly be operating today makes the situation doubly frustrating.